Powders and particulates are commonly added to formulations such as cosmetic formulations to provide various benefits, including, for example, absorbing water, modifying feel, thickening the formulation, and/or protecting skin. Although powders are useful, current mixing procedures have multiple problems such as dusting, clumping, and poor hydration, which can waste time, energy, and money for manufacturers of these formulations.
Specifically, formulations are currently prepared in a batch-type process, either by a cold mix or a hot mix procedure. The cold mix procedure generally consists of multiple ingredients or phases being added into a kettle in a sequential order with agitation being applied via a blade, baffles, or a vortex. The hot mix procedure is conducted similarly to the cold mix procedure with the exception that the ingredients or phases are generally heated above room temperature, for example to temperatures of from about 40 to about 100° C., prior to mixing, and are then cooled back to room temperature after the ingredients and phases have been mixed. In both procedures, powders (or other particulates) are added to the other ingredients manually by one of a number of methods including dumping, pouring, and/or sifting.
These conventional methods of mixing powders and particulates into formulations have several problems. For example, as noted above, all ingredients are manually added in a sequential sequence. Prior to adding the ingredients, each needs to be weighed, which can create human error. Specifically, as the ingredients need to be weighed one at a time, misweighing can occur with the additive amounts. Furthermore, by manually adding the ingredients, there is a risk of spilling or of incomplete transfers of the ingredients from one container to the next.
One other major issue with conventional methods of mixing powders into formulations is that batching processes require heating times, mixing times, and additive times that are entirely manual and left up to the individual compounders to follow the instructions. These practices can lead to inconsistencies from batch-to-batch and from compounder to compounder. Furthermore, these procedures required several hours to complete, which can get extremely expensive.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a mixing system that provides ultrasonic energy to enhance the mixing of powders and particulates into formulations. Furthermore, it would be advantageous if the system could be configured to enhance the cavitation mechanism of the ultrasonics, thereby increasing the probability that the powders and particulates will be effectively mixed into the formulations.